"... Although Adam hasn't climbed anything harder than I did at the start and in the middle of the '90's, he is repeating these routes in sovereign style which proves that today he's climbing at a completely different level than the best were during my time. Open Air in five days, Weisse Rose in seven days, Om in two... and by the way an 8b and an 8a on-sight, and Shogun 8c third try... And he's also on-sighted a series of 8c's... Sharma was the first to reach 9b and as things look, Ondra will up the difficulties further still. Furthermore, Adam is a really pleasant person and we had two really nice days!"Alexander Huber

hillary, messner, harding, robbins, moffat, dawes, sharma, rebuffat - all masters in their time and still celebrated. ondra has the potential to become a phenomenon greater than woods or maradonna - pity climbing isn't mainsteam.

sharma, rhouling, nicole, lamiche, gulich... are all poineers of the sport who set new standards and proved themselves over time. They did a bit more than just beta-raping already established routes.

i doubt whether fred nicole was waited in at the airport by a bunch of poster waiving kids(this is apparantly being organized) when he first came to South Africa... at that time he was already bouldering 8c and at the top of his game for many years.

you, with the rest of our "celebrity" worshiping country, have lost the plot.

dude... you gotta take a chill. have you read anything about this guy or are you just going on hearsay? All the world's top climbers have said that Ondra is the real thing and are all humbled by his achievements. Beta-rapping? haha, the stuff he has onsighted is incredible let alone repeats of all the hardest stuff around in minimal time. Its just a matter of time before he starts putting up his own routes - but before that why not climb everything else? Yes, he is 16, but Sharma also started performing at that age and has more than gone the distance. If what Ondra is doing makes people excited about a sport we all love then more power to him (not that he needs any more!)... No, I won't be one of the people waving posters at the airport (and how could a couple of kids being excited possibly offend you?) but I will do my utmost to be at the rock and road to see him climb.

I understand that Adam Ondra has raised the standard & opened various routes...was that a new 9a in Greece? Did I read three 8cs in a day? Is that a new standard or the same old one repeated.

Fred Nicol came on a quiet/private trip doing his own thing. As long as you are not waving a banner in the airport, why should it worry you? What harm is it going to cause? What has it got to do with you? What do you really want to tell us? Are you above / better than the rest of us?

"you, with the rest of our "celebrity" worshiping country, have lost the plot." ...the whole world, every country has celebrities. SA is not abnormal in this. Celebrity worship in SA is mild compared to most countrys & climbing-celebrity-worship is mild compared to other sports.

Why do we get excited about him? Because the routes he sends in a week alone, are enough to get him in the top 10 world ranking. And this is no isolated week - he's done that a couple of times already. David Lama and Charlotte Durif are up there as well, but they have nowhere near the climbing output of this guy. No one has. FA's are one thing and he will get to those eventually, once he's climbed every single hard line he can - in fact, he said in an interview he's style of climbing is to climb everything on the grade in which he gets it in a few goes and progresses like that. In this kind of climbing style, FA's aren't that importand, but volume is. He climbed for two years, when he topped 10 500 8a.nu points. He has done more hard routes than anyone I know of, including onsighting 8c+, which completely smashes your allegations of so called "beta-raping". To add to all of this, he repeats lines that stayed unrepeated for years.

I won't go into the stats for percentages of onsights and so on - go have a look at Ondra's chart.

If this is not standard-setting, i don't know in what virtual reality you live or what pipe-dreams you may have for the idealised uber-climber. So far as any kind of climbing standard goes, Ondra is as close to the uber-climber as we will see in a very, very long time.

Jehlers, get over this negative criticism and realise that he accomplishes more in a week's climbing, than what 99.999999999999% of hard climbers will ever reach in a lifetime of commitment. He's the Lance Armstrong of climbing, and if we can't get excited about Adam, well then this is a very sad and sorry community indeed. Chris Sharma is a climbing celeb, Ondra is a climbing phenomenon. And by the way, you can't climb 9a+ or 9b without being a climbing celeb.

He is the most talented sport climber I have seen in 20 years and on top of that he is a humble guy who climbs for the love of the sport and nothing else. I say we give him a super south afrcan welcome and try help him feel totally relaxed and have as much fun as possible. I for one will be at the airport waiting with a big smile. Andrew

I dont care how old he is, or that he hasnt done any FA's - if the guy climbs really hard and we can all stare with big eyes, learn something, get amped and climb harder as a result - then it cant be such a bad thing.

0800-doos indeed! (Nice one Paul! got a good chuckle from that!)Maybe try Trolls Anonymous too, they have a program just for you Jehlers!

Im certainly dropping everything and heading for the Eastern Cape late July. Watching the top Surfers in the world duke it out at Supers, watching one of the best sport climbers in the world climb and having the opportunity to RAH! the top climbers in SA on as they compete all in the same one week period is an opportunity not to be missed!!!

yikes jehlers you are on your own dude! but apparently the ANC youth league is looking for a new spokes person. i can just see fitting-in beautifully there. you and brah julius making comments we all can be proud of. who-hoo!!

Gee Mokganjetski I think that may have overstepped the line there. Calling Jehlers an idiot SPAM troll doos who needs to get some is one thing but anc youth league oooooh thats just mean. True but mean.

Come on jehlers you've been quiet, what is the rasional behind your comments.

I'm sommer net a cranky traddie who doesnt know which side of the grigri must point up and even I'm excited this guy's coming here. Rock and road upped the ante for ALL of SA climbing and Adam Ondra could well do the same. Lets get psyched, learn and crank...

I just wish we could let him loose on our finest and hardest open project.....Masawati at Montagu; its is probably 8c+ and is a perfect 40 m long sweep of overhanging quartzite. There are some locals trying it but it is an open project and they have had enough time now. Imagine the spectacle, the crowds that would gather to watch - and he'd probably get it 2nd try. It would put SA sport climbing on the map! Currently I think the plan (I might be wrong) is to take him to Oudtshoorn where he will onsight everything.. and its limestone which is 2aPenny in Europe, quartzite would be a new experience for him. I would think he'd be far more excited to open Africas hardest sport climb!! Lets take a vote, should we introduce him to Masawati...or not...?

1. Foreigners climbing way beyond South African standards had a very positive affect on local bouldering. In fact, I believe the affect was and still is inspiring as local climbers realize what it takes to send such grades.2. If we can't climb it, I personally think its cowardice to stop others from trying it.3. There will be more 8c+ climbs discovered when 8c+ is realized.4. Instead of viewing his 2nd/3rd/4th successful attempt as negative, it should inspire SA climbers to try harder... especially young climbers. Imagine a 10 yr old kid interested in climbing watching Ondra swing an 8c+. He/she will think it very possible from the get go.5. ......no I'm out.